Landscaping Plan Calls For New Trees

The days when developers bulldozed land and plopped down a few buildings without planting trees could be numbered in unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County.

Under a proposed county landscaping ordinance, the days when new homes stand naked on lots, unshielded from bustling commercial and industrial projects also may be numbered.

``This is something that`s long overdue for improving the environment of South Florida,`` said Richard Moyroud, a member of the Florida Native Plant Society who helped draw up the measure, which the County Commission will consider in coming weeks.

``The original character of this area was far different back in the `20s. What we have left is a small fragment of that,`` he said.

The proposed ordinance would require builders to plant trees along with all new homes and commercial developments. It also would require that by the year 1990, half of those trees be native Florida species.

``Hopefully it`s an incentive for a developer not to clear cut, but to plan carefully,`` said County Commissioner Dorothy Wilken, who has strongly supported the landscaping ordinance.

Under provisions of the draft ordinance, a developer would be required to plant five trees that are at least 8 feet tall along with a new home built on a parcel of 7,500 square feet -- the average size lot in the county.

Developers also would be required to plant at least one tree for every 2,500 square feet of space in commercial developments and would be required to install walls and trees to shield such developments from residential areas.

``Our existing code is absolutely minimal,`` said Frank Palen, assistant to the county`s zoning director. ``All it does is require people to plant a few trees in parking lots.``

The proposed landscaping measure also includes a fine of $500 a day for violations.

Lew Lauder, a spokesman for the county`s Home Builders and Contractors Association, said he had not yet seen the draft of the ordinance, and wouldn`t comment on the proposed guidelines.

Moyroud said he hoped the measure would help preserve native plants and trees in Palm Beach County, while stemming the influx of non-native trees that have taken over many areas of South Florida.

The proposed ordinance would prohibit developers from using three species of non-native trees -- the Melaleuca, the Brazilian pepper and the Australian pine -- to satisfy the tree quotas spelled out in the measure.

Those species, which were brought to the state earlier in this century, have adapted well to the South Florida climate but are known to crowd out and kill native plants and trees.

``There is a chance that South Florida will be overrun with these,`` Moyroud said.

A committee established by the County Commission has been developing the landscaping measure since April, Palen said.

County officials will present the measure Monday and the commission is scheduled to review it after public hearings in February and early March.

``Our view is that anything that we get on the books now will be a dramatic improvement,`` Moyroud said. ``Compared to the counties to the north, the south and the west of us, we`ve been lagging very far behind.``